It may take a little bit of traveling, but it's not too tough to get away from the light pollution of cities. The more extensive the traveling, the better the view you'll get. I went camping up in Northern Maine with my uncle and it was incredible. I would just lay out in the back on the cabin in the hammock and stare up at the sky. Not only did I get an incredible view of the stars, but there was the added coolness of bats zipping overhead chasing down mosquitoes.

The best view I've had though was from out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. A little over a year ago, when myself and Julie took a trip to Florida with my best friend and his fiancee the package thing included a 2 day Bahamas cruise. On the way back, I was walking the deck with Julie at night. They keep all of the lights off on the front of the boat and you can just lay out there on lounge chairs and stare up at the sky. I've never seen so many shooting stars in my life, it was a breathtaking sight. Then there was all of the stars, nebulas, and other galaxies that you could see.

I just have one question though. Even if there wasn't any light polution in the US, we wouldn't be able to see the Borealis, would we? I know that certain parts of the country have effects similar to the Aurora Borealis every now and then and people would freak out when it happened, but I don't think most of the country did.

I would love to travel up North and see the Auroras in person. It's incredible to see in pictures, but I can only imagine what it would be like to see in person.

Actually there are mountains east of San Diego, not to mention there are mountains less then 60 mins from where I am, so it's not to tough to get to a place where I could see a lot more then in Orange County...

There used to be a couple of observatories out that way...one was south of the Palomar airstrip; the other is Griffith Park Observatory in the hills above L.A. County. Neither, I believe, are currently functioning observatories due to the light pollution; both are open to the public for better observation than you'd get down in the city actual.

Have to wonder what's making the Aurora Borealis go so far south, though, if you're getting it down where you are...

Solar Flares have been up lately. It happens 1-3 times a year. Griffith still functions and you can view through the telescopes some nights (I never have). I have only been there once at night when a comet was around. But have gone there numerous times during the day. There is an Observatory in Big Bear but I think it's closed to the public.